


built upon our bones

by virotutis



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different Mastermind (Dangan Ronpa), Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Multi, Talentswap, im going for endgame oumasai for sure but like, other potential pairs are a mystery so u can suggest me some if u want, tags will be updated as they apply
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-13 04:06:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12975510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/virotutis/pseuds/virotutis
Summary: Saihara Shuichi wakes up in a locker after being kidnapped, tumbles on out onto the floor face-first, and then meets a boy with a checkered scarf. They're both understandably confused by this turn of events in their lives.





	built upon our bones

**Author's Note:**

> god ive been working on this roleswap au fic for like, a good two and a half weeks so im glad that i finally finished it. take it from me please.
> 
> tumblr: [hotsuins](http://hotsuins.tumblr.com)  
> twitter: [dragonstreams](http://twitter.com/dragonstreams)

It was almost completely pitch black when Shuichi finally woke. 

The only source of light came from these few strange thin slits above his head where hints of light crept in through the gaps, like glimmers of sunshine that pierced the waves and sank down towards the dark ocean depths.

Awareness returned to him slowly; every thought he had felt like it had to dredge through a lake of sludge to make his way to his mind. He was groggy, disoriented, and there was a numbness in his limbs that made it hard for him to move too much. 

Shuichi licked his dry lips, ignoring the taste of cotton that clung to his dry mouth. His head throbbed persistently as if there was a jackhammer going off in his skull, continuously sending wave after wave of aching pain shooting through his skull. 

This was not the best way to wake up.

He was slumped over and leaning against something hard, completely pressed up against it, and he could feel that his hat had been knocked askewed at some point. It was practically falling off of his head.

The air around him was stuffy and humid, and when his eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, they barely were able to make out the sight of something standing in front of him. It... looked similar to a wall.

He was inside of an enclosed space, he realized. Then, another thought followed: he legitimately had no idea what it was. Shuichi  _ definitely  _ didn’t remember getting into anything willingly.

When he managed to raise a hand to touch the wall in front of him, he felt cold metal. Which, at the very least, meant that he probably wasn’t inside of a coffin. Coffins didn’t have slits in the top, and judging by the slight light, he also hadn’t been buried alive or anything yet. 

The situation he was in could be much worse, right?

A hysterical, panicked laugh began to rise in his throat as his chest tightened. Shuichi immediately forced it down. Getting worked up wouldn’t help him get out of this situation, whatever it was. He needed to stay calm and keep his head. 

Though, honestly speaking, that was always much easier said than done. 

Shuichi tried his best to turn his focus towards gathering information and seeing what he could find out about his situation, despite the pain in his head. Understanding what was happening was vital in developing a plan to escape, after all.

When he tried to sort through his memories to figure out why he was stuck in a cramped, metal container, he found it to be a complete blank. Shuichi couldn’t remember what had happened to him to get him in this situation, or how he even got to wherever he currently was.

Trying to dig deeper in his memory only led to his head pains intensifying. The things he knew for sure was the current physical state of his body, which was far from being in perfect condition. 

It was reasonable to assume that he had been drugged at some point. That was the only way someone could manage to grab him and keep him unconscious as they put him into a metal box and it was the most probable explanation as to why he was currently feeling so awful. 

He was positive that if it wasn’t for the standing container he was in, he would most likely be pressed face-first into the ground instead. Plus, now that he was more aware of himself and more awake, he could tell that his body felt… off, for whatever reason. 

There was a strange feeling of wrongness that weighed down his joints. It felt like the kind of off that you felt when you came home to find that everything had been moved around, just an inch to the right and you had no idea how it happened. 

It was that subtle type of discomfort where there was a part of you screaming at you, telling you that something was  _ off _ , but you didn’t quite know how and you were left feeling uneasy about it and paranoid. Somehow, there was a part of him that knew that something, no,  _ everything _ was wrong. 

Shuichi’s body didn’t feel like it was quite his own anymore and he didn’t know why. 

Had something been done to him while he was unconscious? Or, maybe the wrongness he was feeling throughout his body was part of the lingering side-effects of whatever chemical his kidnapper(s) used to drug him?

The thought made him uncomfortable. Shuichi made the decision to not to think too much about it. 

It was doubtful that he would get an answer to that question any time soon. He couldn’t imagine that whoever took him would decide to be very forthcoming with explaining everything that was going on when he asked, considering that they shoved him into a strange container while he was unconscious.

Instead, Shuichi gave the wall in front of him a small push. He still felt somewhat weak, but he could at least try to test out its strength as he waited for his body to flush out the effects of the drug. 

With any luck, it would happen soon and he could kick the wall down to make his way out of the box he was currently trapped in. All he had to do was bide his time, keep an ear out for any noises outside, and be patient. 

To his surprise though, instead of offering up any kind of fight, the wall gave immediately after the lightest amount of pressure. With the sharp sounds of scraping metal ringing out in his ears, it swung open and he found himself tumbling on out onto the floor. 

His face, and the rest of him that followed, hit the ground with a loud thud.

For a long moment, Shuichi was tempted to simply continue laying there. It wouldn’t do any harm for him to rest a little while, right? The floor, even though it had hurt initially, felt cool against his face and he wasn’t going to get very far in this state, even if he did get up.

The sudden bark of laughter breaking the silence of the room changed his mind though. 

“Wow, that looked like that hurt! I’ll give you a 7/10 for that though. It was a nice fall, but your landing pose could use a little bit of work!” 

His head immediately turned towards the source of the sound as he scrambled to sit up despite his body protesting. A boy with purple hair grinned down at him, a checkered scarf hanging around his neck. 

The boy was dressed head-to-toe in black; his pants were black plaid and his two shirts were both a solid black. The first layer looked to be plain, with long sleeves that peeked out underneath the short-sleeved shirt on top. 

That shirt, with the metal pins running down the side of it and lacing the shirt up instead of something reasonable and normal like buttons or maybe even a zipper, was the thing that caught Shuichi’s attention the most. 

Design-wise, it actually resembled something similar to a straightjacket, which was definitely a kind of look. Shuichi wore a lot of black too, but even he didn’t wear shirts like that. 

He blinked and wondered which Hot Topic this boy shopped at. 

“I… Uh, thanks, I guess…?” he replied hesitantly. Shuichi was pretty unsure about what to say to something like this or how to respond. “Um, do… do you know what’s going on here? Or where we are?”

Shuichi gave a brief glance behind him to find out what he had been inside of, and found that what he had just fallen out of was a locker. That… was a new one, honestly. He had never been stuffed inside of one before.

That explained why the wall had moved so easily. It had been a door all along. 

He shook the thought out of his mind and examined his surroundings. It looked something like a classroom, with rows of desks on the sides of the room, but there were vines of ivy and other greenery creeping down the walls and dangling from the ceiling. 

The place had the appearance of a location obviously abandoned for a long time and left for nature to reclaim. There was barbed wire posted in front of the windows to restrict access and he could see branches and leaves pressed up against the glass.

Strangely enough though, the desks around them didn’t have any noticeable signs of wear or age and the lights and electricity were obviously still working as well. There was a futuristic, electronic blackboard on the wall that gave the classroom a sickly green glow.

It… didn’t make sense.

“Nope, not at all!” the boy answered cheerfully as he threw his hands behind his head. “I woke up in a locker too, with no memories on how I got in it or how I was even kidnapped in the first place. How scary, right?”

The tone of his voice made Shuichi do a double-take, giving the boy a confused look as he continued to grin. Shuichi couldn’t understand how anyone could possibly manage to sound so bright when they were both victims of kidnapping. 

This boy definitely had nerves of steel. His smile grew, and Shuichi hastily averted his eyes as he fixed the position of his hat on his head. He pulled it as far down as he could.

“It’s the same with me,” Shuichi replied uneasily, frowning. “That’s… pretty suspicious. Both of us can’t remember what happened, and I can’t even remember what I was doing before I was taken away either…” 

He pushed himself up off of the ground to stand, and it was far from being one of his best ideas. His knees, still fighting off the numbness in his legs, shook and gave out on him and he swayed dangerously, almost toppling over. 

The boy reached out to steady him. The mirth that was previously on his face was immediately wiped off and replaced with a look of concern. “Woah there, watch out. Are you alright?”

Shuichi clung to the hand the boy had wrapped around his arm as he helped Shuichi over towards one of the desks. His head kept spinning and spinning and his legs trembled. He shut his eyes, clenching them tightly. 

“Yes, sorry. I think… I’ll probably be fine in a moment, but...”

“It’s fine. Can’t be helped, right?” The boy let out a quiet laugh. His voice sounded close; he was still standing by Shuichi’s shoulder. “Guess waking up in a locker will do that to you.”

Shuichi nodded and slowly opened his eyes again. Sitting down had helped; his head felt somewhat better now. “Thank you,” he said quietly, and then stopped. He didn’t know the boy’s name; he had just been referring to him as ‘the boy’ the entire time.

That had to be remedied.

“Um, I’m Saihara Shuichi, by the way. Since… well, we haven’t introduced ourselves yet.”

The boy’s smiling face suddenly twisted with shock and horror. 

It made Shuichi startle in his seat, hastily turning around to see if a threat had appeared behind him. There was nothing there though and he was about to ask what had happened, until the boy spoke again.

“Y-you’re really giving your name out in a situation like this? When you’ve obviously been kidnapped and taken away to some strange location and you don’t even know anything about me? You don’t even know if what I said was actually all a lie and I’m actually the one who took you away. Are you really that trusting with strangers?”

The boy didn’t even give Shuichi a chance to respond before he pushed on. “Or, alternatively, how do I know if  _ you _ aren’t actually my kidnapper either? You could have planted yourself here to get me to trust you and drugged yourself so the act could be believable.”

Shuichi couldn’t help but flinch. The boy definitely had a point there. 

It was true that neither of them knew anything about the other and there was no way for them to know for sure if they could safely rely on each other. The possibility that this boy was responsible for his current situation was not a nonzero.

Honestly, it was probably more logical for them to  _ not _ trust each other at all and take every word that came from their mouths with a grain of salt. The situation he was in practically demanded that Shuichi not believe anything that came from the mouth of the strange boy he found standing over him after waking from a drug-induced unconscious state. 

Still though, Shuichi wasn’t currently in a position where he could refuse any kind of help right now. He wasn’t capable of doing as much by himself as he would like, and if anything were to happen right now, he’d be a sitting duck.

Damned if he did, damned if he didn’t. Either way, he would still be in danger. He’d take the risk with the boy.

Besides, they didn’t have to trust each other necessarily anyway; all they needed was an agreement to cooperate for the time being. Shuichi could deal with the possibility of the boy’s betrayal if it came when his body started functioning properly.

After all, it was only a potential situation. There was no evidence proving that the boy wasn’t the one who kidnapped him, but there was also no evidence proving that he was either. 

Shuichi liked to believe in innocent until proven guilty, and, well... He thought about the concern that took over the boy’s face as Shuichi’s legs gave out and the gentle but firm grip of the boy’s hand around his arm as he directed Shuichi towards a seat. 

The boy could have let Shuichi fall again, and he didn’t. That had to count for something, right? He really didn’t believe that this boy was responsible for his kidnapping. 

Maybe Shuichi was just weak to displays of care and kindness.

“I… get why you can’t trust me and I won’t pretend that what you’ve said isn’t a possibility, but I don’t exactly have a choice in the matter right now.” He tapped his nails against the desk anxiously as he spoke, frowning. “You saw what happened when I tried to stand on my own. I’m not in the best shape.”

“Yeah,” the boy said, then snickered loudly. “you totally almost ate shit again. You’d think it’d be less funny the second time, but it was a hundred percent as hilarious as the first time.”

Shuichi let out a quiet breath, ignoring him, and continued on. 

“I  _ need _ to rely on you for now until I can actually stand without falling over. You’re… right about us not knowing if we can actually fully trust each other, but we can still at least cooperate to find out what’s going on in the meantime, right?”

“True.” The boy hummed quietly, before he nodded. “Working together for a while wouldn’t hurt. Plus, even someone like me would feel bad if I just left you behind right now. Alright then, I’ll concede to you, Mister Potentially Could Be My Kidnapper And May or May Not Actually Be Named Saihara-chan.”

Shuichi opened his mouth, to retort against that last accusation, but decided against it. There probably wasn’t a point. “Just… Saihara is fine. Please, just call me Saihara..”

“Anyway, now that you’ve given me your name, it’d be rude and something of a social faux paus for me to not return the favor, is it not?” the boy continued on, displaying no sign that he had heard Shuichi’s words. “That’s an interesting scheme you’ve come up with to mine me for information, Saihara-chan.” 

“What? No!” Shuichi immediately sat up straight. “I-it wasn’t my intention to force you to give me your name or anything! I —”

“Well, you win! I’ll give you what you want!” The boy pouted and let out a loud, frustrated sigh, as if he was being terribly inconvenienced by having to give Shuichi a name to refer to him with. “I’m Ouma Kokichi, you villain! Are you finally happy now?” 

The answer, if Shuichi was being honest, was a very vehement no. He had met this ‘Ouma’ less than five minutes ago and was already exhausted just by talking to him; he was definitely regretting opening his mouth at all.

There was something familiar about that name though, as if Shuichi had heard of it once before. He couldn’t remember where. From the news maybe? Or, from his uncle? He knew that he had never met Ouma in person before this. 

Shuichi could never forget anyone who could take him through such a rollercoaster of emotions like this. 

“Yes, thank you,” he said instead of being truthful, slumping down in his seat. The desire to lie his head down and go to back to blissful unconsciousness was strong. “Listen though, Ouma-kun, I do understand why you would suspect me—”

“Hm?” Ouma blinked and tilted his head to the side. “What are you talking about, Saihara-chan? Of course I don’t suspect you of anything.”

Shuichi blinked too, feeling like he’d been smacked right in the face with a fish. “What? B-but, but you said—”

As he waved his hand to dismiss his previous words, Ouma simply shrugged casually. Shuichi could only stare at him as he spoke.

“Don’t be silly, Saihara-chan. It was just a possibility I had to address, you know? It’s not like I really think that you’re responsible for kidnapping me or anything. If you were capable enough to take me by force without me even being aware of what happened, you’d definitely wouldn’t be stupid enough to give enough a big enough dose of whatever chemical you used on yourself that you’re currently entirely at my mercy.”

“Although,” he continued thoughtfully before he suddenly gasped loudly, “that could also be a part of your plan to get me to underestimate you so I wouldn’t expect your betrayal when it came. How incredibly devious of you!”

Shuichi opened his mouth for a split-second and then immediately closed it, overwhelmed. 

There were so many things he could have said in response, but he just couldn’t think of the words. Maybe it was a bad idea to suggest that they worked together to figure out what had happened to them. 

“Oh, come on, Saihara-chan! Loosen up! It was just a little joke. Consider this our first bonding experience with each other, hm?”

His lips pressed into a flat line. Shuichi really doubted that accusations regarding each other’s trustworthiness could ever be considered something to bond over. 

“You… seem to like joking around a lot, Ouma-kun.” 

Ouma merely laughed. “I like to have a little fun in my life, Saihara-chan. It’s not like there’s anything wrong with that, right? All work and no play makes you a dull boy.”

There were, in fact, a lot of things wrong with the way that Ouma was acting considering the situation they were currently in, but Shuichi held his tongue. It would be pointless to voice them; the odds that Ouma would actually care was very low.

“I… suppose not.”

“Good, good.” Ouma nodded sagely. “Now that we’ve gotten our little introductions out of the way, let’s move onto the more juicy stuff! Liiiiike...  why we’re here, hm? I mean, I’ve got an idea as to why someone would kidnap me and all, but I’m not too sure about why they’d grab you too.”

He gave Shuichi a visible once-over and his face didn’t look too impressed. It… kind of hurt, if Shuichi was being honest, but he wasn’t too surprised. 

His uncle had always told him that he never really looked like much. 

Shuichi’s clothes didn’t stand out like Ouma’s strange straightjacket shirt did either. His pants were a normal pair of black slacks and his shirt was a regular white button-up paired with a black sweater on top, with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms. 

He frowned though, as Ouma’s words sunk in. Shuichi could understand why someone would kidnap someone like him, but Ouma seemed like he was a normal person despite his… well, general attitude and everything. 

“You… have an idea as to why someone would kidnap you? What do you mean by that, Ouma-kun?”

“Eh, I’ve got a couple of enemies here and there,” Ouma answered casually, like it was a normal thing that just happened to average high-schoolers. “It’s no big deal, you know? You make them all the time working as a detective. Especially since I’m the Ultimate Detective and all.”

Shuichi froze.

No wonder why Ouma’s name seemed familiar then; his uncle had brought it up to him more than once, and he still remembered the huge media circus surrounding a murder case last year around the beginning of spring and the name of the detective that solved it. 

He let out a quiet, subtle exhale. That certainly changed things.

“I’m… actually an Ultimate too, Ouma-kun. Do you think that could possibly be the motive behind our kidnappings?”

A thoughtful look settled on Ouma’s face as he considered Shuichi’s idea. 

“Interesting. That’s not a bad idea, Saihara-chan. There could be other factors at play, but our status as Ultimate is the most obvious commonality between us. It’s entirely possible that your suggestion is right.”

“It’s not  _ entirely  _ possible that Saihara-kun is right, it’s actually a hundred percent true that Saihara-kun is right!”

They both jumped at the sudden, unexpected third voice that joined in on their conversation. A small, strange… two-colored, black and white stuffed bear, of all things, hopped right on top of the desk that Shuichi was sitting at, waving its small paw.

On the white side, it had the look of a normal teddy bear: a glossy black glass eye and half of a regular little mouth. On the black side though, the eye was a sharp, jagged red slash and the mouth continued on as a sharp, stretched grin.  

Shuichi couldn’t help but stare at it. The physical appearance of it could be considered somewhat cute, but… 

There was a certain kind of malice bleeding from it. From its two strange, different eyes to the wide smile stitched onto its face and its high-pitched, childish voice, every part of it screamed of brutal violence and danger. 

He shuddered, unnerved. Gooseflesh rose on his arms. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Ouma didn’t look too comforted by its appearance either.

“What…” Shuichi started, then stopped to swallow the lump in his throat that rose when the thing turned to look at him. “What do you mean by that?”

“Well, obviously I mean what I just said!” it said, suddenly letting out a loud cackle. “Do you really need me to point out the obvious? It’s a good thing you’re not the Ultimate Detective or anything, Saihara-kun!”

“The motive behind our kidnapping was our Ultimate talents.” Ouma frowned. “Why though? Why take us? What’s your purpose?”

“My purpose?” the bear repeated, tilting its head to the side. “Well, I suppose I could explain it all to you two right now, but, hm... Nope!”

“No?” Ouma’s eyes narrowed. “Why not?”

“Nope! I don’t feel like having to repeat myself more than once! I’ll do it later, after all of you Ultimate kids are altogether in the same place.”

“All of you…? Wait,” Shuichi’s face turned horrified. “There’s more of us here? Just how many of us did you take?” 

The bear just let out another sharp cackle. “You’ll find out after you find them! You’re a smart cookie, Saihara-kun. I’m sure you know how to count! And, if you don’t, you’ve got your buddy to help you right there!”

Then, before he or Ouma could attempt to ask it for more information, the bear leapt off of the desk and suddenly disappeared as quickly as it had appeared in the first place. They were left alone in the classroom again.

“That was…” 

Shuichi trailed off, unsure about what to say. Somewhat frightening? Extremely stressful for lasting less than ten minutes? Borderline infuriating? All three at the same time?

Ouma slowly turned towards him. He was still frowning. “Do you think you can stand now, Saihara-chan? We need to start moving. Before that thing comes back.”

“Yeah, I think so. That’d… a good idea.” Shuichi slowly and carefully rose from the desk. His legs protested, but they didn’t buckle again. “We need to find the other Ultimates that it was talking about too…”

“Oh, that’s right.” Ouma stopped. “You never told me what your talent was, Saihara-chan.”

Shuichi bit his lip.

“Ah, I suppose I didn’t. All I said was that I was an Ultimate, huh? Mine’s not… anything as interesting as Ultimate Detective though.” He paused. “It’s, um. Ultimate Childcare Giver.” 

“Huh. Really, Saihara-chan? I can kind of see it, but honestly, you seem more like you’d be a guy that gets bullied by the kids you watch instead of actually taking care of them.”

“I… see.” Shuichi laughed nervously as Ouma started walking forward again. “Well, you’re not wrong, I guess. I’m not exactly the most strict with the children or anything. I do enjoy taking care of them though. It’s… refreshing, to spend time with them and see them grow.”

“Mm, I can’t relate. I’ve always thought kids were generally pretty awful, but, like, you do you, Saihara-chan.”

Ouma stepped out into the hall first, and Shuichi was left alone in the classroom. He took advantage of the moment to let loose a heavy sigh of relief, feeling the tension that stiffened his limbs during that conversation seep out of him. 

Then, he closed the door behind him and followed right after Ouma.

**Author's Note:**

> ouma's outfit is his third beta design. [specifically design c.](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/danganronpa/images/c/cb/Art_Book_Scan_Danganronpa_V3_Character_Designs_Betas_Kokichi_Oma_%283%29.png/revision/latest?cb=20170530080007)  
> ouma kokichi: ultimate detective  
> saihara shuichi: ultimate child caregiver


End file.
